


Soapbox Derby

by StarMaple



Series: Post Stars Hollow [2]
Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2015-12-28
Packaged: 2018-05-09 22:04:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5557247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarMaple/pseuds/StarMaple
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean and Katie go to the Soapbox Derby.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Soapbox Derby

**Author's Note:**

> A short sequel I wrote a few years ago for Getting as Good as You Gave. ClaireEvelyn wanted to see it, so here it is.

Dean has considered many of the pros and cons of dating a teacher: the hours, the summers off, the supply of free apples from eager students… but he had forgotten to consider this aspect.

There is a ten-year-old boy sizing him up the way Jess used to, although his head is craned back at a much more awkward angle, chest puffed up and straining for those extra inches of height. 

“Hey Jake!” Katie greets the boy, as she leads Dean by the hand through a sea of kit-built cars and their pint-sized drivers. She stops in front of his car and gives it an admiring glance, painted like a fierce shark showing teeth. “Nice car!” 

Jake practically glows under the praise and promptly ignores Dean. Dean bites the inside of his cheek to keep a straight face. Katie either hasn’t noticed, or is being an absolute champ at ignoring it. She moves on to formal introductions. “Dean, this is Jake, from the third grade class I student teach. Jake, this is my friend Dean.”

His attention refocused on his romantic rival, Jake levels another cold look at Dean. He’s not buying that ‘my friend’ line at all, what with the amount of body contact between Dean and Katie. 

Dean hunkers down a bit to get more on Jake’s level. “Hey Jake. Nice to meet you. Good luck today.” 

Jake grunts a response and refocuses his attention on Katie. Dean raises an amused eyebrow at his dismissal, but stays quiet after that, letting Katie talk to the boy. He remembers having a young, pretty elementary school teacher once or twice. 

Their conversation gets broken up when the race inspector comes over to check out Jake’s car, and Katie excuses them both so they can find a place to watch. 

“I am putting ‘Hot For Teacher’ on your iPod when we get home,” he leans in to whisper to her as they find a spot on the grass bordering the gently sloped street. The Chicago skyline poking up behind the trees lining the road is the only clue they’re near civilization. They pick a pretty out of the way suburban street to block off for the Soap Box Derby. Dean guesses nobody wants to see a runaway racer jump the hay bales and end up in someone’s living room. 

She shakes her head and grins. “God, I know. There are three or four of them like that in this class. I don’t know what else to do but to ignore it.” 

“Only four? I’m pretty disappointed in your class’s taste level.” He lifts their linked hands up and kisses her knuckles. “You are clearly the hottest teacher at that school…” he starts before a rapidly approaching Jake interrupts them. 

“Ms. Dixon!” He’s calling out, red-faced and clearly upset. 

Katie’s instantly down on her knees in the grass to look him in the eye. “Jake! What is it? What’s wrong?” 

“My car! It didn’t pass inspection and I only have an hour to fix it and…” Jake’s flustered, panting and fighting tears.

Katie looks around. “Your dad helped you build it, right? Can I help you find him?” 

“He’s away on business.” Jake looks wretched. “Only grandma’s here, and she doesn’t know anything about tools.” 

“Would I be allowed to help you fix it?” Dean asks, feeling really sorry for the kid. 

He feels less sorry when the kid shoots him a skeptical glance. Shouldn’t he be desperate for any kind of help right now? “You?” Jake says, like Dean’s got ‘I failed wood shop’ written on his forehead or something. 

”Hey! Yeah!” Katie enthuses. “Dean’s built an actual car before. Like with an engine and transmission and everything. He could totally help you out!” 

“You built a real car?” Jake says with something a lot closer to admiration than disdain this time. 

“Yep.” Dean says. “I bet, between the two of us, we can figure this out.” 

Jake’s looking a lot more calm now, and he eventually agrees with a tiny ‘okay’ and leads them all back over to the car. Dean calls over the inspector and he explains the problems with the car and tells Dean the rules for helping—he can assist, but he can’t just fix the problems for Jake. Dean rolls up his sleeves and kneels down by the car. 

“Okay. The inspector says there’s a problem with the axle. What do we gotta do?” 

Jake sighs. “We’ll have to take apart the entire axle assembly,” he says, carefully tipping the car on its side to reveal the necessary parts. “There’s, like, a million bolts holding it together.”

“Better get started then,” Dean says, and opens up Jake’s meager tool kit and pokes around inside. “Katie, can you run out to the truck? My toolbox should be in one of the storage boxes in the bed. Driver’s side, I think.” 

Katie nods. “Got it.” 

“Make sure the socket wrench is in there!” He calls after her, as she runs off to the parking lot.

***

  
The inspector is hovering over the three of them with his watch when Jake gets the last bolt back into place. They make it just in time. The inspector takes his time going over the alterations, but when he finally declares the car legal and safe, Dean, Katie and Jake all let out the breath they’d been holding. 

Katie breaks out of her relief first, and picks up Jake’s helmet. “Okay,” she says, offering it to him. “Enough dawdling. Jake, you’ve got a starting ramp to get to. Dean, we’ve gotta go find a place to watch the race from.” 

Dean nods and gathers up his tools in his toolbox, as Jake rights his car and pushes it towards the starting area. “You got that?” Dean asks. 

“Yeah.” Jake says, confidently maneuvering his car. “Thanks Dean. Thanks Ms. Dixon.” 

“You’re welcome, Jake,” Katie says.

“Now remember,” Dean calls after him, “Don’t over-steer. You’ll go slower, the more corrections you make.” 

“I know, Dean.” 

“And keep your head down!” 

“He’s got it, Dean.” Katie says, indulgently, tugging on his elbow. 

“It’s a shame the rules are so strict,” Dean says, toolbox in one hand and Katie’s hand in the other as they go to find a place along the hay bales lining the street. “They don’t allow for any creativity as far as design and construction go. You could really increase the speed of the racers by just changing the body shape a little to reduce drag.” 

“I think it’s more about the racing than the engineering, Dean. They don’t want the cars going too fast with eight-year-olds driving them.” Katie grins. “For engineering, I think you’re going to want the Pinewood Derby. Do you want me to ask the Boy Scouts in my class if I can get us an invite?” 

***

“This hill looks a lot steeper from here.” 

Dean looks over at Katie. Her grip on his hand has gotten noticeably tighter. “Yeah?” 

“Some of these kids are eight!” 

“Yes, they are.” 

“And they’re sending them down the hill in…” she gestures with her free hand, trying to encapsulate the danger,  “death… wagons. Deathwagons, Dean!” 

“I think they’re pretty safe.” 

“They could crash and explode!”

“The hay is soft and there’s nothing combustible in a derby racer.” 

“Deathwagon,” Katie insists.

“Jake should name his next racer that.” 

“If shrapnel comes flying towards you, I’m not pulling you out of the way.” 

***

After celebrating with his grandmother, Jake tracks them down again, brandishing his bronze-colored third place trophy. Katie reaches down for a high five. 

“That was amazing! I am so proud of you!” Katie cheers. 

“Great driving, Jake,” Dean adds, because it was. 

“Thanks again for helping me fix my car. I wouldn’t have gotten to race at all without your help.” Jake says earnestly to both Katie and Dean. 

“We were glad we could help,” Katie says. 

“Man, I can’t wait until next year. I bet I can get first place! Then I get to race at the championships in Akron! My car next year is going to be amazing!” 

“You should name it Deathwagon.” Dean says. Katie sputters. Jake looks like he’s never heard something so cool in his life. 

 

 

 


End file.
